ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Punctuation Videos 27 videos

Colons
3486 Views

This video covers colons. How do you use them in a sentence? What do they have to do with lists?

Semicolons
10333 Views

Want even more deets on semicolons? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

Where Does the Semicolon Fit Best?
1781 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 3. Where does the semicolon fit best?

See All

English Punctuation: Choose the correct punctuation for this sentence 875 Views


Share It!


Description:

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 1, Problem 1. Choose the correct punctuation for this sentence.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Grandmothers. They'll let you do all

00:08

the stuff your parents won't, because... what do they care?

00:12

My grandmother a true artist decided it was time for me to learn to paint.

00:19

And here are the possible answers...

00:25

Well, as is, this sentence just sounds weird.

00:29

It's very unlikely that "Grandmother-a-true-artist" is your grandmother's name

00:34

Based on the context, the subject of the sentence is actually just... grandma.

00:38

That would make "a true artist" an appositive phrase.

00:43

An appositive phrase drops in another name, or something that defines the previous subject,

00:48

with two well-placed commas surrounding it.

00:50

These say, "My grandma doesn't just bake amazing apple pie, she's an artist too."

00:57

Well, we know A can't be true, because right

00:59

now the sentence doesn't make sense. D is out as well... unless you have a "grandmother

01:03

A" to distinguish her from grandmothers B and C...

01:07

In option C, there's only one comma, so the appositive phrase isn't appropriately

01:12

jailed like we want it to be. We need commas on both sides. We're sticking

01:16

to our guns on this one. Now all that's left is B. It works because

01:18

the appositive phrase is surrounded by two commas. Just the way we like it.

Related Videos

ACT English 2.2 Punctuation
2174 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 2. Where should the semi-colon be placed?

English Punctuation: How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?
1262 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 1. How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

ACT English 3.2 Punctuation
1080 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 2. How should we properly hyphenate the words in this sentence?

ACT English 3.4 Punctuation
641 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 4. Which choice best formats this list of items?

ACT English 2.1 Punctuation
647 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 1. Which choice of punctuation best completes the sentence?